The Story of Tazo’s 3D Printed Prosthetic Dog Cart

Markforged Customer Highlight about 3D printing a prosthetic dog cart

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Meet Tazo

Tazo the dog had a rough spring 2015. He doesn't have the use his back two legs. Tazo's previous family dropped him off at the Animal Haven shelter in NYC because they couldn't provide proper care for the paralyzed pup.

Turbo Roo Designs to the Rescue

Turbo Roo Designs heard of Tazo's plight. These compassionate designers of dog enabling prosthetics knew exactly how to help the hound live a fuller life. Turbo Roo previously created many front-wheel carts for the company's namesake chihuahua, TurboRoo. This was their first time making a back axle design.

The prototype they designed was a metal frame consisting of a few concentric bars and a lot of hardware. You can see it at the start of the video above. It wasn't the best possible solution so Turbo Roo reached out to Justin Finesilver at the 3D Printing Store.

The World's First 3D Printed Back Wheel Dog Prosthetic

According to Justin, "I was excited for the opportunity to design and create the world's first 3D printed back wheel dog prosthetic cart. We were excited to bring this new idea to a deserving dog like Tazo."

The parts were designed in SolidWorks using measurements from Turbo Roo. Justin picked the MarkForged because the material properties of the Nylon were appropriate.

He said, “it was a perfect solution, strong enough and light enough. We used the MarkForged because they were doing this 100% virtually. Tazo the dog was in NYC and we are in Denver."

Everything was printed using 10% nylon infill without composite reinforcement. Then the nylon parts were spray painted and assembled. Justin believes this cart is an upgrade in terms of weight, functionality and style.

As you can see in the video, Tazo agrees. It was the best day of his life. Tazo's rough spring turned into a resplendent summer. He was adopted during the buzz around the story. Then he received the new prosthetic on his best day ever.